FCC's Adelstein, Tate cross the aisle over XM-Sirius

Tate has been pushing the agency's enforcement bureau to fine both XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., two companies that are seeking regulatory approval from the FCC for a $13 billion deal. At least that's what people close to the Republican commissioner are saying. Tate declined to comment to The Deal about the XM-Sirius deal on Monday, but according to regulatory filings has met with attorneys for both companies and enforcement bureau staffers to discuss the issue.

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Adelstein also reiterated his push to have an independent committee to monitor whether the combined company complies with merger conditions imposed by the commission. Adelstein said he hoped the monitor committee would reflect the type of independent review trustees the Federal Trade Commission employ to oversee whether that agency's merger conditions are complied with.

Presumably, the independent committee would be paid for by XM-Sirius funds but be approved by FCC officials.

Do whatever you gotta do Deb, enforce the hell out of us. If this is all she wants to tack onto Martin's proposal I would be very pleased. Anyone see any added cost to the combined company in this scenario besides one-time fines? (Of which there has been no real discussion of dollar amount) If they are required to pay for the committee, how much could that even be? I can't imagine it being a huge burden.

I don't know. I haven't really followed enforcement allegations from the beginning but from what I understand they are pretty legit. One is arguably in a grey area: interoperability. So I tend to think, fair is fair. You break the rules and get caught you square up.

I know that I'm not supposed to speed, but I do it anyway because let's face it, the open road in front of me is too enticing. "I swear officer I was just going with the flow of traffic." Get stopped, pay the ticket, and move on down the road.

The FCC's own account? The General Fund? The US Treasury? Sent to the banks as a drop in the bucket toward the trillion dollar bail out?

Please make all checks payable to "Chester Davenport". C-H-E .....

Actually you were dead on. They go to the blackhole that is the United States government.

Where do those fines go, you ask? Good question. They go straight into the Federal Treasury, to pay for things like war and the deficit (for a full breakdown of Federal spending, check out the good folks at the National Priorities Project).

I agree that the companies probably should be fined, which might also keep some of the post-merger vultures off their back (ahem - not mentioning any names). At this point, any continued deliberation and delay will likely be more costly to the companies.

Someone on the Yahoo boards took a page from the NAB playbook and drafted Tate some talking points for her approval of the merger:

"Originally, I wanted to impose some sort of fines on Sirius and XM for noncompliance issues. However, I realize that by our delaying the merger for 490 days that we have cost Sirius and XM billions of dollars in lost revenue, synergies, and market capital. Therefore, I am voting YES to approve the merger with no conditions. I apologize for this disservice to our country and am pushing for mandatory time frames on future merger deliberations."

zcurzan, I read someplace that when one of the companys of terrestrial radio had to pay for several hundred violations over the years, it was something like 100,000 dollars or some small amount. It was so long ago I cant remember how much, but it was pretty small. It might have even been at Sirius Buzz I read it. I think it was in a comments section on a article It might have even been Tyler who said it responding to someone I am not sure. I am pretty sure Tyler knows about it though.